Malaysian state plans to run conversion plan sparks alarm

Vastavam web: A Malaysian state plans to run a conversion therapy course aimed at transgender women, officials said today, sparking alarm among LGBT activists in the conservative Muslim-majority country.The course would run over several days next year after authorities had completed a survey of the transgender population, a Terengganu state official said.”Transgender women are part of our society…. They are our responsibility,” Terengganu executive council member Ghazali Taib told AFP.

“At the end, it is up to them to make a choice. The government’s concept is not (to) force. (We) give them a path to make the best choices for their lives,” he said.”If you ask someone not to be themselves that will have an adverse impact on the health and-well being of the person,” Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of transgender activist group Justice for Sisters, said.

Leading transgender activist Nisha Ayub said courses such as these would only deepen the community’s isolation.”If (transgenders)…feel that they cannot change themselves, they will feel like outcasts from society,” she added.